


"I'm just a collector"

by TrustyPunks



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Agoraphobia, Cute, Depression, Family Member Death, Frerard, Grief, Grief/Mourning, Guitars, Hoarders - Freeform, Hoarding, M/M, Other, References to Depression
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26650579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrustyPunks/pseuds/TrustyPunks
Summary: Frank Iero is a 23 year old with an embarrassing secret. He is a hoarder. He is mourning his grandparents' passing. Gerard Way is an empath who can relate.
Relationships: Frank Iero/Gerard Way
Kudos: 13





	1. The best color

**Author's Note:**

> https://twitter.com/TrustiePunks/status/1309583012993011713?s=20
> 
> Above is a link with photos to support what I was picturing in my mind as I was writing this.
> 
> This was inspired by my own life in some ways. I am using this fic as a form of therapy.  
> I haven't written any fic in a long time, but I used to write with my friends back in the myspace days.
> 
> Gerard is a combination of Danger Days and Revenge era Gerard, he is 27.  
> Frank has long hair and stubble, looks a lot like current Frank, but he is only 23.
> 
> For reference: the color teal I am referring to is a little bit more like baby blue. The color on Frank Iero's Parachutes album. I guess I had mis-remembered the color as being teal. But it turns out the leaves on the cover ARE teal, so yea, that color.  
> Gerard looks like the Iggy Pop shirt photo shoot he did for a magazine. You can google image search that, but he has the revenge bat belt buckle and teal roots. He has nicely, neatly done, teal eyeliner instead of the red eyeshadow he paired with the teal roots as well.
> 
> I realize it's not very well written, I just had the idea and i'm running with it. Constructive criticism welcome. I might pop back in and make edits to the original one as I go along and fine tune it if this lets me. I'm not very familiar with AO3.
> 
> Additionally, I am ASEXUAL and autistic, so this fic will not have any graphic sex scenes (Sorry to disappoint) and it will also have some things I fixated on the details on a little too much. If you feel inspired and like my interpretation of these characters, you can borrow from this fic and make your own smut. I don't really care as long as I get credited for inspiring it.

Frank works at Guitar Center because he wants the employee discount for guitars. He collects guitars. Collects is a bit of an understatement. He has a whole room in his house dedicated to guitars.

He is a young bachelor and both his grandparents passed away somewhat recently and left him the family home. At work, he enjoys getting used merchandise in and he will often hide the good stuff in a corner behind some boxes.

One day, they get a really nice electric guitar in and he puts it in his secret corner. He is obsessed with the color. It's a teal 2001 Les Paul. It's got some damage on the body, a few scrapes and dings where the finish is damaged, but Frank can fix it. They price it at $700.

It's still really expensive and he is trying to save up for it because he only gets a 10% employee discount. He's gotta save up because he has several mouths to feed. He's got 6 dogs. That's the limit the county he lives in will allow anyone to have.

A few weeks later, a guy about his age comes in. He has dyed black chin length hair with teal roots. He is wearing an Iggy Pop shirt with the sleeves cut off, the sleeve hole is at about his bellybutton level. He's also sporting tight black pants and a bat belt buckle, too.

Frank watches him from across the store. The guy is checking out the used guitars. Frank takes this as an opportunity to go ask him if he needs any help. After all, Ray the store manager is handling the register anyway. Frank can see his puffy hair bobbing around the registers from all the way on the other side of the room.

They've got other guys working in the store too and Frank just so happens to be a total dork about the guitars. His grandpa was a musician and had actually taught him how to play guitar. He had a lot of feelings tied to the instrument itself.

He walks up to the guy as he is messing with some used gear. He is just playing pentatonic scales, the easiest guitar exercise.

"Hey, let me know if you need any help finding anything. My name's Frank!" He points at his name tag.

Frank is wearing his Guitar Center uniform. Black button up shirt with red lines and the guitar logo embroidered on the left breast.

The customer looks up at him and smiles a genuine smile. He has cute little teeth and he's chewing some gum.

"Thanks Frank! I'm just browsing right now, but I'll let you know" he continues playing and chewing his gum and Frank notices he doesn't have a pick.

"Here this might help" Frank hands him a red Guitar Center guitar pick. "They're kinda flimsy, but hey, it's a pick"

Up close, Frank can see he is also wearing teal eyeliner. He's got some interesting fashion sense that's for sure. The mysterious customer reaches for the pick, he has nicotine stained fingers from holding cigarettes between them. He smells of cigarette smoke, possibly weed. The guy notices Frank's own hands as he takes the pick.

"You smoke too, huh?"

Frank blushes "Oh, wow, you're perceptive. I'm trying to quit actually, but yeah... it helps calm my nerves" Frank had taken up the habit when his grand-pop was on his death bed.

The stranger nods and raises his eyebrows. He's chewing gum rather obnoxiously. "I get yah. I'm actually doing that thing where you stop smoking and you realize how much money you save by not smoking. I've got enough to buy a really nice guitar now, that's why I'm here. My name's Gerard by the way"

Frank can't help but feel like they have a connection. He was hiding the teal Les Paul for himself, but this guy's favorite color was obviously teal. It reminded him of the guitar.

"ACTUALLY, YOU KNOW WHAT?" Frank said excitedly. "I know the perfect guitar. Come with me!"

Gerard follows him to the corner of the store where Frank was hiding his treasure. "Check this out! It matches your hair and eyeliner"

Frank hands the Les Paul to Gerard tenderly, as if it's a newborn baby. Gerard does a low whistle. "This is really beautiful" he turns the guitar over and notices the scratches and dings on the guitar body.

"RIGHT?!" Frank exclaims. "I was actually saving up for this myself, but I think maybe you'd give it a better home"

Gerard sees the price tag on it and winces. "This is gonna hurt my wallet a bit, but I think it's better spent money than cigarettes. Maybe it will keep me from buying cigs for a while"

Gerard was holding it, he strummed a few clumsy chords while chewing his gum. He was obviously a beginner guitar player and was a little embarassed.

"Sorry, I'm just barely learning how to play. Someone told me to replace my bad habit of smoking with a good habit, and guitar always seemed like a fun instrument, so I figure I'll make that my good habit, ya know?"

Frank nodded. "Dude, no worries. We all start somewhere. I've actually been playing for years now," he kinda trailed off, thinking about his grandpa. Gerard pretended not to notice, but he could see there was some pain there.

Frank shook himself out of it. "If you want lessons, I actually teach on the side, here's my business card"

Frank hands him a business card. Gerard looks it over front and back. FRANK IERO. GUITAR LESSONS AND REPAIRS. BASED IN NEW JERSEY.

Gerard reads it out loud "Frank Lero. Guitar lessons and repairs. Based in New Jersey" he chewed on his gum endearingly at every pause.

"It's EYE- ear- oh, actually" Frank corrects him. "I guess the font kinda makes it look like an L cause you're not the first person to say that"

"You know, maybe you could use some graphic design, aside from the font, this is pretty plain... I'm not saying that to be rude, I mean, uh I do graphic design maybe I could design you a card in exchange for lessons? I'm gonna be preeetty broke after I buy this baby"

The way he said baby just made Frank a little weak in the knees. Frank realizes this guy is trying to hang out with him. "OH word? Yeah! That would be awesome!"

Gerard starts heading towards the register, guitar in hand. Frank follows and meets him at the register.

"So do you want to join strings club? do you want to buy our protection plan?" Frank does the whole script because Ray is paying attention.

"With string club, you pay $35 now and then you can come get any brand of guitar strings for "free" every month. It ends up saving you a bit of money in the long run"

Gerard joins the string club because then he has an excuse to go see Frank every month and go get free strings. He doesn't get the protection plan, but instead, loudly complains.

"HEY this guitar has damage on the body, would the protection plan be retroactive, can I get retroactive repairs on this?" he chews on his gum thoughtfully.

The store manager, Ray comes over. "What's going on?"

Gerard points out the ding on the body. Ray apologizes "So sorry about that, no, the protection plan doesn't cover already existing damage"

"Well, this is rather expensive for a damaged item" Gerard chews his gum and furrows his brow. He looks like he's about to cancel his purchase.

Ray notices and says "Sorry about that, all used items are as is, but maybe we can reduce the price a bit?"

Gerard nods "If you could, I would greatly appreciate it." He gives him a big grin.

Ray turns to Frank "Hey Frank, give this guy your employee discount when you check him out." Frank nods.

Gerard winks at Frank and says thank you to Ray. "EXCELLENT customer service if I do say so, you deserve a raise, my good man!"

Frank is just in awe at this guy's boldness. He's just so cool.

Gerard pays with his debit card and asks Frank "So... when do you get off?"


	2. After work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard shares a bit about his background with Frank. Frank realizes they have a connection in grief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm again, borrowing from my own life heavily with this chapter.
> 
> I'm going with the color theme loosely inspired by the film "blue is the warmest color" I HAVE NOT EVEN SEEN THE MOVIE BUT I KNOW IT IS ABOUT LESBIANS AND BLUE HAIR? but I heard it has a sad ending, so I don't even want to bother watching it. I'm just borrowing the concept here.
> 
> El Caminos are cool cars, go google image search for teal El Camino so you can picture what I mean. It's basically a mullet of a car.
> 
> I am using some facts from the guys' actual lives as inspiration, but it is for the most part fiction. 
> 
> Little "fun facts" that MCR fans might recognize from real life include: Super Pickle, Catholicism, food allergies, their relationships with their grandparents, Gerard actually loves cars.
> 
> Totally made up: I don't know their favorite colors or foods. I googled and it said Frank likes butter sandwiches, so I went with that. Among other things.

For the past 2 hours, Frank had been over-analyzing everything about their interaction and overthinking in his mind.

Had Gerard been flirting with Frank? Nah, he was just being friendly, right? Besides, he was wearing his dorky work uniform, he hadn't seen his real fashion sense yet. How could he pick up that he was not-quite-straight? Was he just that full of himself? Did he have good gaydar? Of course, Frank wasn't sure if Gerard was gay, but he WAS wearing eyeliner and he WAS an artist... it just made sense that he could be. 

Funny how fast time goes when you're off in lala land. Frank clocked out.

Gerard was already outside waiting for Frank by the time 5 pm rolled around. He had gone home to drop off his guitar and came back just to pick Frank up. He had told Frank it was no big deal, he lived 15 minutes away from Guitar Center anyway. He had made some additions to his outfit. He was now wearing a black and grey striped scarf and black denim jacket.

He had asked Frank if he had a ride home, and Frank had lied and said no. Truth was, he had driven his car to work.  
He just didn't want Gerard to see it because it was so messy. Life had just kind of gotten too hectic for him since his grandpa first started getting sick and things just went downhill from there.

Gerard was sitting at a table outside the coffee shop next door, doodling in a sketchbook with a cup of coffee next to him.  
He quickly put the sketchbook away in his pocket and smiled when he saw Frank walking towards him. Frank waved awkwardly. Gerard got up and threw away the empty coffee cup.

"You hungry?" Gerard asked encouragingly "I know I always get hungry after a long day of work"

Frank hadn't thought about food much lately to be honest, he actually forgot to eat a lot unless his dogs would remind him it was time for food. 

"I guess I could eat" he shrugged and put his hands in his pants pockets.

They walked toward the parking lot and Frank immediately knew which car was Gerard's. "Are you friggin kidding me?"

Parked horizontally in a row with no other cars, taking up 3 parking spaces, there was an old, teal, El Camino. It wasn't pristine, but the paint job looked surprisingly good for a car over 30 years old, in Jersey. Just based on the sloppy parking job, there was no way this guy was 100% straight. That was all the confirmation Frank needed. This guy HAD been flirting with him. He hadn't been overthinking it.

Gerard laughed. "Uhhhh. Yeah. It's my favorite color, if you couldn't tell" he chewed his gum loudly in between sentences.

Frank couldn't help but wonder if it was the same gum from earlier or new gum. It smelled strong. Cinnamon?

"It actually used to be my grandma's car, but she left it to me because I love cars and I was her favorite grandchild" Gerard sniffled a little and chewed on his gum a little more intensely.

There it was. The connection Frank had felt. Gerard had lost his grandma, and Frank had lost all his grandparents, but his Grandpa's death had hit him the hardest. Frank couldn't help but feel that their guardian angels had brought them together because they could understand each other's pain.

They bounded up to the car and Gerard said "Well? Hop in!" Gerard took off his jacket before getting in the driver's seat, meanwhile Frank sat in the passenger seat. It only had 2 seats, but there was a lot of leg room in front. A huge contrast to his own car. Frank had a 4 seater and every inch of it was packed with random things. The passenger seat floor of Frank's own car was even littered with stuff.

The interior of Gerard's car was very clean. There was a rosary wrapped around the rear view mirror, standard for Catholics. Ok, maybe he wasn't gay. The only other thing that stood out really was a green stuffed animal sitting in the dashboard. 

Gerard caught him looking at it. "OH! That's Super Pickle!" he said proudly "he is my very special buddy I've had since I was like 8 years old, he comes with me everywhere, he knows all my secrets."

Frank thought it was adorable. On closer inspection, it was indeed a pickle, with a happy smile stitched on in red. A lime green pom pom for a nose. He was accessorizing with a yellow cape, red shoes and white gloves.

"So where do you want to go?" Gerard had already buckled up and turned to look at Frank. 

Frank noticed his eyes were hazel, kinda like his own eyes. Gerard's gum chewing was ridiculously loud in the quiet car. Rhythmic, a little hypnotic.

Gerard turned on the car to warm the engine. The radio came on automatically. He couldn't make out what it was, but it sounded like a Misfits song and it broke Frank out of his spell.

He had quite literally gotten lost in Gerard's sincere eyes.

"There's a McDonalds over there, and a Taco Bell around the corner, we could even do a sit down place? Talk about your business card and guitar lessons"

Frank was embarassed to admit "I'm actually vegetarian and lactose intolerant" He clicked on his seatbelt "I'm not really sure there are many places we can go where i can eat"

Gerard was cool about it "ok, no prob, we can hit up a grocery store or something. I think there's a Stop & Shop or WaWa down the road. I didn't even ask, where did you say you live again? we can find a place on the way to your house"

Frank winced and tensed up. OH SHIT. HE WANTS TO COME TO MY HOUSE. HE WANTS TO COME INSIDE. HE CAN'T COME INSIDE. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK.

"Actually, can you just drop me off? I have a lot of dogs and they don't like strangers. And they bark a lot. And they might jump up on you. And I mean, they're nice but they're a bit too much to meet. And I just wanna relax when I get home. And I just me-"

Gerard had been making a mhmm noise and nodding "Breathe. It's ok. You don't gotta explain, I understand. Another time maybe. BUT I will say, I have space in the back of my car and I have a blanket behind the car seats, we could have a picnic and chat a bit before I drop you off?"

Frank calmed down. This guy was so perceptive. He had just talked him down from a panic attack without him realizing he was about to have one.

"A picnic sounds nice. We can get some wonder bread and butter for sandwiches" Frank said, realizing after the words left his mouth just how strange his favorite food might sound to the un-indoctrinated.

"BUTTER sandwich?" Gerard was already pulling out of the multiple parking spots. He looked over to Frank and winked at at him while chewing his gum. "Not PEANUT butter and jelly?" he said with a teasing tone in his voice

"I told you I have food allergies" Frank said and leaned back in the car seat, blushing. 

This guy knew how to keep him on his toes.


	3. Shopping trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank and Gerard go to the grocery store to buy food for their picnic

They pulled into the Stop & Shop parking lot. 

"AW MAAAAN" Gerard exclaimed. There was no room for him to park his car the preferred way. He chewed his gum while he searched for a good spot.

He found the spot furthest from the store, and parked in the corner spot, since it had more room.

Frank laughed "You really can't park?" Gerard sighed "I mean, I CAN, I just don't want to park where someone could hit my car. Why do you think the old girl looks so good?"

Frank nodded, but he still thought that was an excuse. "Don't you worry about getting tickets?" Gerard shrugged "Nah, I have never gotten one yet, knock on wood"

They got out of the car and Gerard immediately went for a cart someone neglected to take to the cart return. 

"I HATE when people are so inconsiderate they just leave their carts randomly! This could hit someone's car"

Frank began to notice a pattern. Gerard was a neat freak. A perfectionist. It made sense given he was an artist, after all.

Frank headed towards the store, but Gerard stayed behind with the cart. "I thought we were just grabbing wonder bread and butter? we don't really need a cart."

"Oh, this isn't for shopping" Gerard said with a smile. "Hop in!" 

Frank hesitated "I think my thighs are too big for the toddler seat" Gerard snort laughed "NO I MEAN like, the back part. I think you'd fit there"

Reluctantly, Frank got into the back of the cart and Gerard gleefully used the cart like a scooter until they got to the store entrance.

They scooted past some old people who glared at them disapprovingly. Gerard was hooting with joy. "WOOOOOOOOOO!!!" 

When they reached the door area, Gerard helped Frank get safely out of the cart, he held his hand out while he chewed his gum. "Beats walking right?" 

Frank smiled, taking his hand. He kind of felt like a princess hopping out of a carriage. Gerard returned the cart to its rightful place.

Once inside the store, they headed to the bread aisle and Frank grabbed a bag of Wonder bread. They passed the cereal aisle and Gerard got excited about Frankenberry cereal.

"You like fun cereal too?" Frank asked him. 

"Fuck yea, man!" Gerard cheered. "I like all the monster cereals, Boobery, Count Chocula... but Frankenberry just hits different, ya know?" He chewed his gum and looked at him with a smile.

"I just always had a thing for Frankenstein's monster. I love that spooky motherfucker. So misunderstood."

What a small world, Frank thought. "So I'm not trying to impress you or anything, but my birthday is actually on Halloween. My parents named me Frank after Frankenstein"

"GET OUT!" Gerard punched his arm lightly. "Ok we definitely need to get this shit then! Have you ever had it before? because you should. Although, I think the marshmallows might have gelatin and you're a vegetarian so on second thought nevermind but I am definitely getting this"

He grabbed a box and tucked it under his armpit and they headed towards the butter. 

Frank thought it was adorable, this grown ass man dressed all in black, carrying a pink box of children's cereal.

"So what kind of butter goes in a butter sandwich anyway?" Gerard asked Frank in between gum chewing, breaking Frank out of his thoughts.

"Salted" Frank stated, matter of factly. Gerard laughed. He had a cute laugh. "No, you dork, I mean what's your go to brand?" Frank blinked 

"Oh uh. I usually get store brand, it's a little cheaper and just as good as name brand, actually most of the time I thought I was eating butter sandwiches it was actually margarine sandwiches, no dairy!"

He reached for the Country Crock "I like to get this kind because it comes in a tupperware you can reuse" he said with a proud little smile.

Gerard thought "you know, I thought you were gonna say 'I can't believe it's not butter' after all that"

Frank shrugged "this gives you more bang for your buck. I think it's a little saltier too and i like that it spreads evenly" he grabbed a little 1 lb tub of the margarine and they walked towards the checkout.

They stopped at the juice aisle for drinks. They both noticed the juice at the same time. "THEY HAVE ECTOCOOLER!!!!" They laughed and shouted "JYNX PERSONAL JYNX DOUBLE JYNX YOU OWE ME A COKE"

One of the shop workers passed by mopping the floor and shook their head at them.

Gerard grabbed a box of Hi-C Ectocooler and tucked that under his other arm. "I haven't had this since I was a kid. I can't believe they brought it back!"

Frank was so excited. "I love Ghostbusters! I wore out my VHS tape TWICE, my grandparents had to buy me another one, but I still keep the old ones, so I have 3 VHS tapes of the first movie alone." 

Gerard laughed his cute laugh "Wow, I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing that before. Yeah, me and my younger brother love that movie, too. I can't wait to tell Mikey they brought ectocooler back!"

Mikey... Mikey... Frank had heard that name before. Actually, come to think of it, there was a kid in his high school science class who kind of reminded him of Gerard.

"WAIT!" Frank thought "Mikey WAY?" Gerard looked at him wide eyed "YEA YOU KNOW HIM?!" 

Frank could not believe it. "Yea we were in science class together back in high school. He wore thick glasses and black nail polish and got bullied a lot"

Gerard chewed his gum "Yup, that's him. He's my baby bro. We're like 3 years apart, but yeah. Baby" 

Frank really couldn't believe what a small world it was. "I thought you were my age. You know you look a lot younger than you are?"

Gerard beamed "I do get that a lot" he chewed his gum. 

They headed to the checkout and paid for their groceries, individually. 

Gerard paid with debit card for the cereal and ectocooler and didn't get a bag. 

Frank paid for the margarine and bread and put his things in a plastic bag. He carried the bag out in his left hand.

They walked back to the car and talked some more. "So how come we never met before? I was buds with Mikey, we used to talk about ghosts and shit together" Frank asked Gerard.

Gerard chewed his gum faster and his total mood changed. "Oh uh. I used to have severe agoraphobia and I never left the house." he cleared his throat and chewed his gum harder.

Frank felt he had asked something he shouldn't have and his anxiety started kicking in. 

He reached for the breast pocket of his uniform with his free hand looking for his pack of cigarettes, but he forgot he left them in his work locker because he was so excited to see Gerard after work.

He was about to change the subject but Gerard went on and broke the awkward silence.

"I didn't realize how short life was until my grandma passed away. I didn't want to go through life without really LIVING, you know?"

Frank felt his words cut through him. He knew. They got to the car and put the groceries on the floor in front of Frank's feet since there was plenty of room.

"Know a good picnic destination?" Gerard asked him. Frank thought about it. "Well, we can't go to this park over here, because they keep finding dead bodies there."

Gerard knew what he was referring to. "Yeah. Dead bodies don't belong in parks." Frank thought about death a lot, he realized.

"Actually... this is gonna sound weird, but uh... wanna go to the cemetery? I kinda wanna go visit my grandparents"

Gerard smiled. "I was kind of hoping you'd suggest that. It's like you read my mind." Gerard looked at Super Pickle and he felt like his grandma was saying "I approve of this guy"

Gerard rubbed the cross on the rosary hanging from his rear view mirror before heading for the cemetary. Frank noticed. 

On the drive there, Frank asked him outright "You're Catholic?"

Gerard shook his head. "Oh goodness no. I just like the aesthetic. My family tried so hard to keep me in the religion, i got baptized, did my communion, and got confirmed, but after that I just didn't care to be part of a religion that wasn't accepting of people like me."

Frank felt butterflies in his stomach when he realized this WAS a date.


	4. Graveyard Picnic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank and Gerard's first date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't added anything in a while, I haven't had the attention span and I didn't think many people cared since I don't have that many hits on it.  
> It has been a few months since I wrote any of this, so I may have some inconsistencies and plot holes, please feel free to leave feedback and comments so I can fix to make this better.

Frank looked at the clock when they got to the cemetery, it was already a little past 6 pm. The sun was already barely a sliver in the sky.

Gerard noticed he was looking at the clock. "You ok? did you need to go home for your dogs?" 

Frank shook his head "Oh, no. I have a neighbor I trust to help with the dogs. We basically share a backyard, so they're fine."

Gerard smiled "Alright, good." He chewed his gum. "That means I get to hang out with you a while then" Frank was thankful that it was getting dark out so Gerard wouldn't see him blushing.

Frank grabbed the groceries by his feet, he put Gerard's cereal in his bag and tucked the ectocooler under his other arm. Gerard dug around behind his car seat for a blanket.

"I KNOW it's here SOMEWHERE" he said. "AHA!" He pulled out an old Star Wars comforter. "SO I KNOW that it looks a little dirty, but I've had this since I was a kid so it's actually just faded, not really DIRTY and also we are putting it on the ground of the cemetery, so It's fine that it looks dirty, but see, It's REVERSIBLE, so the dirty part goes facing down and the top part is where we sit and eat."

Frank thought it was cute that he was explaining it. "How many people do you take on picnics?" Frank raised an eyebrow and asked teasingly.

Gerard laughed a raspy, silent laugh, like a balloon that got the air forced out "Not thaaaat many" he chewed his gum and winked at Frank. "Come on, I know just the spot"

Gerard grabbed the blanket and led Frank to his family's plot. "My family is SUPER Catholic and... well. They bought this whole little area of the graveyard. It's got like a little spot for my great great grandparents, my great grandparents, my grandparents, and my parents when their time comes, and then some spots for me and my brother and our... "wives" when we get married, IF we get married so like, they kind of expect us to stay in Jersey forever, but I wanna get out of here, ya know"

Frank was following behind. "Uh... no actually, I don't ever wanna leave Jersey myself. It's fuckin great here. I'm gonna stay here til the day I die."

Gerard looked at him "Huh" he chewed his gum thoughtfully. Even though it was basically dark, he could see Frank's beautiful features. His nose and jawline were just calling out to be drawn.

They got to a little part of the cemetery that had a little fence around it. "This is the Way vault" Gerard said as he opened the gate. There was a little mausoleum building which housed the dead and there was a nice little flat area next to it. Gerard put the blanket down and motioned for Frank to sit and put the groceries down on it. 

Frank sat down, legs criss-crossed, at one corner of the blanket and started pulling out the groceries. His wonder bread and tub of country crock, Gerard's Frankenberry cereal and the packet of Ectocooler.

Gerard pulled a lighter out of his pocket and lit a candle and handed it to Frank. It was in a nice little decorative stained glass candle holder. Frank assumed he got it from somewhere around the mausoleum. Gerard lit another candle for himself and sat across from Frank on the other corner of the blanket, his legs opened straight out, surrounding the cereal and juice in the center of the blanket.

"Well, here we go! Nice candle lit dinner, aren't I romantic?" Gerard laughed "So teach me how to make a butter sandwich"

Frank laughed and realized they forgot utensils. "Ok wait so I used to be a boy scout. I've got a pocket knife. Can I borrow your lighter?" 

Gerard handed Frank his lighter and watched Frank run the blade of his pocket knife over the flame. "So I've basically just cleaned the knife, I'm gonna wipe it with my shirt and run it over the flame again"

Gerard was amused at how resourceful Frank was. 

"Ok! All clean. Also it's warmed the knife so the butter will spread more evenly, so anyway, you gotta open the bread" Frank opened the bread as he said this "and then you open the margarine" Frank opened the margarine "and just spread the margarine on a slice of bread and then put another bread on top of it and, Voila! a butter sandwich!" he handed Gerard the first butter sandwich he made and made himself one. 

Gerard waited for Frank to make his own sandwich before taking a bite. While Frank was busy making the second sandwich, Gerard opened the Ectocooler and set a pouch next to Frank and grabbed one for himself. He also opened the Frankenberry cereal. 

When Frank finished making the sandwich, he said "Bon apetit!" and held up his sandwich for Gerard to bump his into. They bumped the sandwiches together, like you would a champagne toast and both took a bite. 

Gerard laughed and said "This butter sandwich dealie" he was talking with his mouth full "it's pretty good. BUT. You know what this needs?" He opened the cereal and put a handful of Frankenbery in his sandwich. "I saw this on breakfast club but with Cap 'n' Crunch and I always wondered if it would be good" he took a bite. "oh... yeah... that's the stuff" Gerard said making a face that said it wasn't actually as good as he said it was

Frank laughed and opened his pouch of juice and took a sip. 

A wave of nostalgia hit him. He felt like a little kid again, eating butter sandwiches and sipping Ectocooler, not a care in the world. He hadn't felt like this in a long time. Everything was like he remembered as a kid, except the person who was making him laugh was Gerard and not his grandpa. 

Frank sighed. Just as the nostalgia had hit him like a wave, so did grief. It came and went. Even when It came, he could count on it to be temporary, just as soon as it came, it would leave again, but he felt it hit him hard just now.

"You ok?" Gerard asked. 

Frank looked at him "Oh yeah. Just. Thinking about the man who made me my first butter sandwich. So the reason I wanted to come here was partly to go visit my grandparents. We don't have a fancy plot like your family, but, they're just a short walk away if you wanna go after we are done eating." 

Gerard reached out a hand to put on Frank's knee. "Yeah of course. Let's enjoy the food a bit before we go on a walk."


End file.
